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Teen charged in grandmother’s stabbing blames meth

A 17-year-old charged in the stabbing of his 55-year-old grandmother at her southwest Michigan home said he was high on meth when he attacked her, and that he hopes she can forgive him.
Michael Loerch told WWMT-TV from the St. Joseph County Jail on Monday that he smoked methamphetamine the day before the Aug. 18 attack and that he lost control after arguing with Georgeanna Sparks at her Burr Oak Township home.

AP Wire

Aug 23, 2011

“I was choking her for about five minutes, she was hitting my arm saying she couldn’t breathe — and I was like, ‘I know you can’t breathe, that’s my point of doing this,”’ Loerch said.

Loerch said Sparks grabbed a knife, and he took it from her and stabbed her.

“She ran out the back door, trying to get away from me — that’s when I went out the front door to go after her, and that’s when I continued to stab her,” Loerch said.

Sparks, who still wore bandages from the attack, told WWMT that she’s not sure why the argument between the two escalated into violence that day. In describing the attack, Sparks said she passed out after being choked.

“Then I came to, he was still choking me, and then he started stabbing me,” Sparks said. “I was drenched in blood. I figured I was bleeding to death.”

Sparks was stabbed 11 times.

Loerch was arrested at the home, located about 80 miles south of Grand Rapids. He is charged as an adult with two counts of assault with intent to murder, and remains jailed. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1.

Sparks plans to testify about the attack in the court case. She said her grandson needs psychiatric treatment, not imprisonment.